The present invention relates to rearview mirror assemblies and, more particularly, to vehicular rearview mirror systems incorporating information displays.
Recently, vehicle mirrors have incorporated a number of electronic and electrical devices, including information displays that provide information to the driver or occupants of the vehicle, such as compass headings or warnings relating to the status of the passenger airbag. In commonly assigned application Ser. No. 09/244,726, filed by Jonathon E. DeLine and Niall R. Lynam on Feb. 5, 1999, entitled REARVIEW MIRROR ASSEMBLY INCORPORATING VEHICLE INFORMATION DISPLAY, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,613, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, information displays have been provided which include information relating to vehicle or engine status, warming information, such as information relating to oil pressure, levels of fuel, time, temperature, and the like. Furthermore, as described in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/057,428, filed Apr. 8, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,655, which is incorporated in its entirety by reference herein, such displays can be used to engage in remote transactions.
With the ever-increasing number of devices desired to be housed in the mirror assembly and the increased number of functions provided by these various devices, making more efficient use of available space is highly desirable. In addition, because of the increase in the number of accessories or devices, the rearview mirror assembly process has become more difficult and complex. As a result, the alignment and positioning of these various devices or accessories is more of a challenge. This is especially true for displays.
For a display to produce a character which is visible to the driver, the display element must be properly aligned with the window or filter through which the character is viewed. However, quite often the components comprising a display may be supplied by different vendors and, as a result, may not align properly. In addition, given the proliferation of different mirror designs, vendors are forced to effectively custom manufacture their products to a given style of mirror, which ultimately increases the cost of the mirror assembly.
In the interest of the economy and ease of assembly, it is highly desirable to simplify the assembly process and provide mirror components that can accommodate a greater range of manufacturing or assembly tolerances and, further, accommodate different mirror assembly designs.